I knew you long before we ever met─Though perhaps I should instead say knew of─And too, it was long before I knew love,But your image I never could forget.And then, when I did truly come to know,Amazed and enamoured was I to findThe outward beauty which to all you showWas outmatched by that of your heart and mind.Still, it came as an even greater shockThat somebody as beautiful as theeShould stake a loving interest in me;That I should ever have had such great luck.Yet, it finally came as no surprise,That IÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¢ÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¬ÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¢d watch you go through tears in my eyes.

-chrisarclark, 2005

"I'm just passing through here on my way to somewhere civilized and maybe I'll even arrive, maybe I'll even arrive..."

i was wondering that, too. what is your experience of writing in form? why choose this form?

the thing about writing in form. i've only tried it with a pantoum, which are exceedingly difficult. i found it really difficult. i'll try to sign on with my other machine and put up my very poorly done example of a pantoum, but you'll see the restrictive pattern immediately.

[edit]:i found it!! and this old pc is working well enough to actually post!!

icame up with the first bit really quickly, juste thinking to myself one day- the bit in the first quatrain about "...knew you long before we ever met-/... should isay knew of-/and too, twas long before iknew love." not the exact wording, but more or less it was there in my head. it was originally going to be juste another lyric, but early on isaw the opportunity to mould a sonnet out of it and so idecided to giv it a go.

ive been studying a lot of poetry- 16th-18th century stuff- and much of what ive most enjoyed has been amongst the sonnet tradition- Howard, Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Woodsworth and so on. in particular, ive been a big fan of Shakespeare's sonnets, and thats why ichoose to write in more or less the Shakespearian form, though iuse an envelope rhyme scheme in the first and third quatrians.

it was challenging, but not terribly really. a lot of it came relatively quickly and then igot stuck for a time and ileft it unfinished for months. icame across it again the other day and had some inspiration to finish it off. a lot of my frustration originally was icouldnt decide whether to write more olde style (it was origianlly "'twas" and other stuff like "ye" and so on when istarted makin a sonnet out of it), or modern/contemporary. iwanted to go modern cos it would reflect more genuinely (since it is indeed very genuine emotionally), but icouldnt get away from the "thee"/"me" rhyme- so ifinally decided to marry the two and became quite satisfied with the result. the final couplet came out in two seconds.

ive written one other sonnet- ibelieve iposted it here, "The Common Things"- which was more an excerise than anything else. imean, it was voluntary, but it was really me havin read a lot of Woodsworth and seeing if icould do anything like it- sadly, the answer was no. its decent fora first go isuppose, but iwont keep round for the collection- ha.